Production & Delivery Procedures

Matrix Key:  Financial Viability - Production and Delivery - Procedures

"A bad system will beat a good person every time." - W. Edwards Deming

We've often talked about how a good business shares many of the characteristics of a winning sports team.  No team can win the game if they don't know the rules.  As we can see from the WholeLife Matrix, your business will not win if you don't have production and delivery procedures in place. Imagine trying to create a product if your team has no idea how to make it?  You must create specific procedures for all aspects of your production system, and you must review and update them regularly.

Here are four things to think about when developing your production procedures:

1. Systems - Break down your production flow into logical steps.
2. Standards -  Define how to make your product the best it can be.
3. Quality - How will you know if the product meets your standards?
4. Customer Service - How do you respond to your customer?

Developing procedures takes time and effort, but it is time well spent.  The trick is to have specific actions that your employees and staff understand.  They also need to grasp the "why" behind the "how."  If your procedures make sense and clearly make a contribution to the end product and to customer satisfaction, your employees will take more ownership in doing the job right.  When they know the rules, they can win the game.

Are You Ready to Win?

Doing the Right Things Right

“The best interest of the patient is the only interest to be considered, and in order that the sick may have the benefit of advancing knowledge, union of forces is necessary.” – Dr. William J. Mayo

This past week I had the opportunity to visit the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. If ever there was an organization that depended on and excelled at systems and structures, it is the Mayo Clinic. While their primary objective is delivering world class medical care, they realize that the only way to provide that care is to be efficient, well-organized, and completely committed to customer service.

Most of the patients at Mayo Clinic come there from out of town, so it is important that they accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. When a patient arrives at Mayo Clinic they receive a preliminary itinerary of appointments that all occur within the space of a few days. After an initial consultation with a physician, that itinerary may be completely changed in a matter of minutes. The patient will receive a new itinerary and may have up to four or five appointments with the appropriate specialists – that day. There is no waiting for weeks to get an appointment, no long and frustrating phone calls trying to reach someone who can answer questions.

The entire operation is focused on customer service. Patient records are communicated immediately to all the departments the patient will visit. Itineraries carry bar codes so that each department can quickly scan for patient information. The patient fills out forms one time at the beginning of the visit. There is very little waiting, and patients can often be seen early if they are running ahead of schedule.

Additionally, volunteers are in abundance, easily identifiable and very willing to help with directions and information. Never at Mayo Clinic is a patient met with an uninterested shrug of the shoulders or the words “I don’t know, that’s not my job.” At Mayo Clinic, it is clear that patient satisfaction is everyone’s job, and everyone is committed to that objective.

Does your business run like the Mayo Clinic? Are all of your employees putting the company’s best foot forward, committed to customer service even if it’s “not their job?” Can you envision what would be possible for your company if you developed the systems and structures that would enable you to deliver a quality customer experience, every time? Would this kind of efficiency and commitment take your company to the next level?

At Possibilities Unlimited, we support companies in developing ways to work smarter instead of harder. When breakdowns occur in company operations, it’s likely because there is not a clear strategy, or a system for accomplishing important tasks. As companies grow and change, it is imperative to develop clearly documented systems and structures to insure that the business operates at the highest level of efficiency. A smooth running machine has multiple benefits ranging from lower costs to improved employee morale, and, most importantly, customer satisfaction.

If you are ready to make some changes to the way your company operates, and would like some help crafting the procedures that will deliver on your company’s vision, we’re happy to help. The coaches at Possibilities Unlimited can give you winning formulas that will transform your company from average to world class, and set you apart from the competition.

Are you ready to win?

Customer Service - Do You Hear What I Hear?

“There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” Roger Staubach, Legendary Hall of Fame Quarterback

The past several days I have been having a lot of trouble with my Hotmail account. I can't get in to read my email. I’ve tried to communicate with the good people at Hotmail to no avail. I’ve also been monitoring the rising frustration of other Hotmail customers who have been posting their issues on forums.

It struck me that we should talk about good customer service. What makes you feel like you have received good customer service? And what does that mean to you when you are making buying decisions?

At Possibilities Unlimited, we coach our clients to make their customers feel heard. That’s the bottom line, isn’t it? When things go wrong, we all want to feel like someone is in our corner, that they’ve heard our question or concern, and are doing everything they can to fix it.

The mere fact of acknowledging a customer’s concern goes a long way to keeping him happy. Most people understand that things go wrong from time to time, and they can usually forgive an honest mistake when the company admits what they did wrong and moves swiftly to correct the error.

What if the opposite is true? What if the company makes excuses or shifts the blame? What if they don’t respond to customer questions?

When people don’t feel heard, they start talking louder. If you ask your child to clean his room and he doesn’t respond, you raise your voice. Same thing happens in customer service. If people don’t get answers, they raise their voices, either by making additional demands or threatening to quit the service.

In Hotmail’s case, you can almost hear the collective screams of many people who have been locked out of their email accounts for days without answers. Hotmail’s repetitive response goes something like this:

“We have been doing maintenance on the Hotmail system. You should not experience outages for more than four hours. Try again later.”

They don’t address the problem head on, and they seemingly aren’t listening to people who have been locked out for far longer than four hours. Many people are posting that they have already gotten Gmail accounts and dumped the Hotmail service.

Could this have been avoided if Hotmail had posted a general message like this?

“We know you must be very frustrated that you can’t access your email. It’s a big problem, and we don’t have it figured out yet. Rest assured that we have brought in extra help and are getting to the bottom of the issue as fast as we can. We will post updates every hour on our progress.”

We can all learn a lot about customer service from situations like this one. Just remember that honesty and a listening ear can be a winning formula when the unexpected happens.

Are you ready to win?